More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

It's the '50s on the French Riviera. Dress is a bit more formal. Men wear sports jackets to the beach and change into their bathing suits in closet-sized lockers. At dinner and in the casinos, tuxes and evening gowns are expected. The ladies are accessorized in expensive gems, baubles that attract the larcenous. A skillful thief is at work, pilfering precious jewels in the dead of night; the thief's style is recognizably that of John Robie (Cary Grant), once known as The Cat. Robie's on probation, along with his French underground friends; they're reformed criminals who've earned their freedom by fighting the Nazis for six years during the occupation. Now the police suspect Robie and his associates from years before; his former comrades in arms are not happy.

Robie approaches one of them for help, a man named Bertani (Charles Vanel) who runs a restaurant and catering establishment where many other former fighters work in the kitchen and in the front of the house. Bertani advises Robie and helps him escape the pursuing police; he has Danielle Foussard (Brigitte Auber), daughter of the sommelier (Jean Martinelli), whisk Robie away by boat as the police arrive. Bertani directs Robie to H. H. Hughson (John Williams - not to be confused with my favorite film composer), a representative of Lloyds of London. Robie has a cunning plan. He will catch the real thief in the act and bring him to justice. A list of local policyholders and the particulars of their gems is required, which Hughson reluctantly agrees to provide.

Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis, who will play Grant's mother in North By Northwest) and her stunning daughter, Frances (Grace Kelly), are rich Americans carrying $280 thousand worth of jewelry. Robie charms his way into their good graces as Mr. Burns of Oregon, someone who made his fortune in lumber. He hopes to shadow them until the thief makes his move. Jessie is unpretentious and unaffected by wealth; perhaps that's because her late husband was a bit of a scoundrel. Frances had been sent to the finest finishing schools and, as her mother enjoys quipping, “I think they finished her there.” But the outwardly aloof Frances can be a seductress and she finds Burns intriguing. Her interest will turn to lust when she decides that Burns is actually John Robie, The Cat.

Before you can say Pink Panther, the Stevens jewels are stolen, Robie falls under greater suspicion, Frances is furious, and the chase is on. The Hitchcock MacGuffin here is the true identity of the thief. That identity will be revealed during the climax at an Eighteenth Century costume ball at a luxurious villa where the thief cannot resist the temptation of a dramatic density of diamonds. Grace Kelly is enchanting as the strong-willed and spoiled Frances. She had worked for Hitchcock twice before in Dial M for Murder (Hitchcock's experiment in 3D) and Rear Window, both released the year before. (She would have starred in Marnie had she not married Prince Rainier of Monaco in April of '56. They met as a direct result of her having starred in To Catch a Thief.) Cary Grant is wonderfully charismatic. He and Kelly have more onscreen chemistry in this film than any other Hitchcock couple. The direction is impeccable and the film is laced with humor and the double entendre made necessary by the censors of the day. Nearly fifty years old, the movie remains quite charming.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in anamorphic video. While this is unquestionably the best this film has ever looked on a home entertainment format, considering that it was shot in VistaVision, a horizontal format that afforded greater resolution, the transfer is a disappointment.

The opening title has the appearance of suffering from a convergence misalignment in some portions of the screen. Could this have been a color separation problem in the original film elements? The overall impression is exaggerated contrast and poor shadow detail. The images are soft and appear to have been low-passed somewhere in the video chain. Edge halos are intrusive and dominate vertical edges of high contrast. This implies that horizontal edge enhancement may have been applied rather than the halos having been generated as an artifact of MPEG-2 compression, where they would have been more uniform in every direction.

Colors are splendid; for example, Cary Grant's bright red cravat in the opening scenes of the film is vivid and without chroma noise, as are the colorful costumes at the ball. Smearing is negligible, and skin tones are accurate, including Grant's deep George Hamilton tan. The image is extremely stable. Grant's black knit shirt with its closely spaced white horizontal stripes would dance and shimmer if there had been any pin registration problems. I only noticed a small Moire pattern on the shirt - interference between DVD's 480 horizontal scan lines and the shirt's lines - twice (these interference patterns are much more obvious in identical scenes found in the non-anamorphic supplements where the video line spacing is greater). Digital restoration is likely; there are no intrusive blemishes of specks of dirt. I can't help wonder if that process took a toll on the images, but a similar process yielded a wonderful North By Northwest DVD.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 1.0 track suffers from the technical deficiencies of the era in which it was produced. Bandwidth and dynamic range are limited. There is neither deep bass, nor are there any shimmering highs. Sound effects are unconvincing and slightly distorted. Lyn Murray's lighthearted score is harsh and, due to the single channel of sound, claustrophobic. But the delightful banter between Grant and Kelly remains completely clear, so even though there is no illusion of being in the room with them, we're able to fully enjoy John Michael Hayes' clever writing.

An alternative language track is in French mono. English subtitles and Closed Captions support the audio.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Paramount Home Video has included a fine selection of original supplements for this DVD, all presented in full frame. Writing and Casting (9:02) is the first of three featurettes that explore the background and production of To Catch a Thief. In these newly produced shorts, Alfred Hitchcock's daughter, Pat, and his granddaughter, Mary Stone, narrate; they continue in the second part, The Making of To Catch A Thief (16:53). Nicely detailed and sometimes reflecting insights that perhaps only a family member might have, the short documentaries are both captivating and informative. We learn, for instance, how Hitchcock, who prepared his shots immaculately and in great detail, was reluctant to make any changes on the set. When Cary Grant persisted in shooting a variation on a Hitchcock scene, the director secretly instructed his crew to applaud his version and be respectful but quiet for Grant's. And even though I'd seen this film many times before, I found within the featurette a verification of a detail that only became clear to me for the first time while watching the feature on this DVD: Charles Vanel's Bertani was completely dubbed.

An Appreciation (7:31) is the third featurette and it's a rare look at Alfred Hitchcock away from the camera. His daughter and granddaughter reminisce and, supplemented with home movies, offer anecdotes that are both revealing and entertaining. Photo and Poster Gallery (7:03) is a slideshow (set to cues from the score) of publicity and candid photos in black and white, lobby cards, and one-sheets for domestic and international venues. Edith Head was the costume designer for To Catch a Thief, and Edith Head - The Paramount Years (13:42) is a tribute to her career, her creativity, and her self-promotion. Finally, the film's theatrical trailer is presented in full frame. The 106-minute film is organized into 18 chapter stops.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts